Belle's Father's Saying

The never judge someone without knowing their full story...

Belle's father said this to her to persuade her to agree to give Gaston a chance. Belle heard TRUE tales of Gaston being a hunter of women and Maurice says don't believe them.

But then he judged Rumple without having spoken to him. Calling him a "beast". We can say he also heard true stories of Rumple but doesn't make him less of a hypocrite.

Him telling his daughter to give Gaston a real chance is reminiscent of Hook's father's empty speech before deserting his son.

Irl, Belle would have learned she was right. The Gaston story ended with the mirror showing fire in Gaston's eyes, showing he was full of EVIL intent. She was gaslit and snapped at but she was right about both the ogre and Gaston. It's very naive of the show version of Belle to see such a thing then treat Gaston like a Quasimodo...in the Underworld, she treated him like a man who had never known kindness and just had to see it to become a better person. He even laughs at her in the Underworld, acting like she's Hagrid because she married Rumple.

I'd argue Gaston is Aragog.

Irl I don't think Belle would clutch that saying to her heart because Gaston and her father were disrespectful to her. Nobody OWES someone empathy, especially if the other person lacks empathy for them. That's what Stockholm syndrome is supposed to be about-empathizing with people who treat you like a tool (though in the Stockholm case I read they only complied because they feared if they didn't they'd be killed, word of mouth has made it into the legend it is today).